Chumming like all things carp can be as simple or complex as you wish to make it. The simple would be a can of corn and the complex, well i've heard of all sorts of crazy things.
For me chumming is a way to...
1) attract fish
2) hold fish
3) make fish compete for food
If you can get #3 happening you are in for a good day!
Theres a million things good carp chum can be made from. Chum can be thrown well before fishing ever starts, if you walk past or fish a regular spot its always a good idea to keep chum going in even if you don't plan on fishing there for a while. Carp are spooky, more so when finding a 'new' food source so the more they are used to your baits the better. They will also alter thier feeding route to include your spot, if theres food there often.
I like to chum with a fair few different things, for 'pre-baiting' i like to chum with my hookbait, so boilies and soaked cattle corn (maize) are the general norm. However when i'm fishing i don't overly chum with my hookbait, normally just a few samples little and often (like 10 kernals of maize or boilies every 20-30mins) and not normally more than that, i want them to eat the bait on my hook, not lots of free offerings.
My favorite way of attracting carp is with 'dry chum'. This will consist of crushed dry crackers, breadcrumbs, chicken scratch, dry oats etc. I like to add flavours and things like milk powder to cloud up and call fish in from a distance, there is nothing in it for them to really eat, just a good scent cloud for them to follow and home in on. I often use a 'method feeder' with this dry mix as my weight, or i will throw in a tennis ball sized lump when needed.
To hold fish i like small particles. From my experience corn etc gets the carp in and feeding, but they are greedy pigs and just one carp can hoover up an entire can of sweetcorn in no time. Once they have eaten they will just move on and you will stop or at least slow in catching them. My fave simple easy particle is bird feed seed mixes, pigeon mix is normally the choice but i'll just buy whatever is cheap! The smaller size of the seeds is what i like, the carp will come in and feed heavily as they do with corn, the difference here is that because the seeds are small they will spread out and sink into the silt a little, its much harder for the carp to find them all and hoover them up and leave, so they will stay a lot longer while they root around slurping up just small offerings, making them hungry! Hemp seed is legendary as a fish attractant and holder and i'd use it a lot more if it weren't so damned expensive!
To get them competitively feeding the key is little and often, they need to be teased! i will keep the birdseed going in every 10-30 mins in fairly small quantities, as well as just a small number of my hookbait offerings. When the fish really get thier heads down you are in for sore arms!
For fish saftey please ensure any seeds/nuts/pulses etc that you wish to use are prepared properly. these baits must be boiled (30mins is good) and soaked for 48hrs, they need to be swollen to max capacity (if the skins are just starting to split on a few your prob just about right. The soaking makes the bait more effective too as the start to release more scent/juice. If seeds are not soaked they will swell in fish bellies and kill them, its not just carp that will suffer, many other fish species will mow down to!
To get small stuff out is a pain in the butt, i use a 'spod' try googling that term to see what i'm talking about. you can make one easy enough.
Feel free to add your own chumming thoughts, techniques.
